The Mental Wellness Epidemic of Entrepreneurship
According to the World Economic Forum, there are 582 million people who’ve devoted their lives to this crazy thing we like to call Entrepreneurship.
It's world changing
Where would we be without Microsoft, Apple and Tesla to mention just a few? What would we watch without Shark Tank or The Profit? Entrepreneurship is aspirational, it lets people ‘Live the Dream’ and can bring incredible rewards.
Entrepreneurship creates almost HALF of the new jobs in the United States each year! Almost double the amount of new jobs created by big enterprise. 99.9% of ALL companies in the U.S.
But., there’s a dark side. A side nobody likes to talk about. A side that many more entrepreneurs will experience than the number who will actually succeed. You see, nobody really talks about the fact that business can be brutal. Sure we skirt around it, our friends attempt to listen and understand as we deal with the challenges of payroll, bills, construction delays and everything in between. The toll however on the mental wellness of an entrepreneur is staggering.Did you know that entrepreneurs are:
2 x more likely to suffer from depression
2 x more likely to have suicidal thoughts
2 x more likely to be hospitalized in a psychiatric ward
3 x more likely to suffer from substance abuse
10 x more likely to suffer from bipolar disorder
As I continue to build WorkLodge, (a full-service, holistic approach to business support through coworking) I'm surrounded by thousands of entrepreneurs and it’s incredible to think that every other person I speak to, could be suffering from depression, or suicidal thoughts. Seriously, re-read that sentence.So, I decided to do something, a baby step, to simply begin on a journey of finding more ways to help and encourage, support and stand with. Because I don't work with customers and clients, I work with people, who have value, because we were all created with a purpose, by a creator that loves us and is interested in our well being.
We're starting with something we call 'Wellness Wednesdays'!
In partnership with an incredible organization in the Greater Houston area, Shield Bearer Counseling Centers. We’ve supported and worked alongside them for a number of years and together, we’ll be offering no cost, mental wellness checkups with a licensed professional counselor in our Houston locations (to start).We want to make it quick and easy. We want to remove the stigma, and promote the benefits of visiting with someone to chat about the strain and tensions of this lifestyle.
WorkLodge members will be able to book a short, introductory session and meet with them in the privacy and convenience of our workspace, to chat about anything they'd like. There’s no charge, we'll receive no information about the conversation (unless you’re telling them how awesome our coffee is which they might relay back!) and sessions will be completely confidential.
This is simply a starting point, one small way for us to try and better support our AMAZING community of entrepreneurs because I believe in them, and together, we can do this, we can win, whether big or small in this game of business.
